putour

Middle English

Etymology

See put (“a prostitute”).

Noun

putour (plural putours)

1. A keeper of a brothel; a procurer.
   • late 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Parson's Tale, The Canterbury Tales, section 76, line 886:

     What seye we eek of putours that liven by the horrible sinne of putrie, and constreyne wommen to yelden to hem a certeyn rente of hir bodily puterie, ye, somtyme of his owene wyf or his child; as doon this baudes?

     What say we also of pimps that live by the horrible sin of prostitution, and constrain women to yield them a certain rent of their bodily prostitution, yea, sometimes of his own wife or his child, as do these bawds?

References

• “putour”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.